November 01, 2008

The Caps to Cap-Haitien Project: A partnership with Konbit Sante

(Photo courtesy of Konbit Sante, in the Haitian area where Safe Birthing Kits will be distributed.)

Mama to Mama is honored to introduce our first project. The Caps to Cap-Haitien Project: A Partnership with Konbit Sante, will initially provide newborn jersey caps to be distributed in Safe Birthing Kits in northern Haiti.

I invite you to join me in sharing your creativity, time and energy to aid our Caribbean sisters. Our life circumstances may be so very different from one another, but as women and mothers, we share so very much in common - the most basic being our desire to keep our children safe and healthy from the moment of birth onward. Please read on to find out how you can contribute to this project in a simple but meaningful way.

In northern Haiti:

Just 1 in 5 women receives skilled medical care during childbirth.

Haiti has the highest maternal mortaility ratio in the Western Hemisphere.

1 in 40 women will die as a result of pregnancy complications, unsafe abortion, or obstetrical emergency.

Twelve percent of children die before the age of 5.

About Konbit Sante:

Konbit Sante is a Maine-based volunteer partnership working to save lives and improve health care in northern Haiti. In Haitian Creole, a konbit is a traditional method of working
together to till your friends' and neighbors fields as well as your own
- a cooperative effort. Sante means health. The name defines
their committment to address the staggering health problems in northern
Haiti where most lack basic care and live without running water.

One aspect of their work involves OB/GYN care
. Konbit Sante is working to assemble Safe Birthing Kits to be distributed by traditional birth attendants in the desperately poor Fort St. Michel area of Cap-Haitien. These kits - consisting of plastic sheeting, hand sanitizer, a sterile piece of string and razor blade, and these newborn baby caps - have the potential to reduce infant and maternal mortality, and give babies a safer, healthier start.

The Caps to Cap-Haitien Project

How you can help:

Download the Caps to Cap-Haitien PDF, where you'll find the pattern for a Simple Knot Newborn Cap. The cap can be sewn on your sewing machine, using t-shirts you have available to you. The project is suitable for any level of sewing ability - even children, with help.

Deadline:

While the intent is to create an ongoing relationship with Konbit Sante and the mothers of Northern Haiti, the initial goal is to gather as many caps for the Safe Birthing Kits as we can by December 10th, 2008.

What a beautiful idea..... you'll be creating such a fine gathering of women and mothers.

This is a great project for my Mother who isn't able to get out and volunteer physically. I'll be printing this pattern out for her today and will gather up out old soft t-shirts and will make a delivery!

Last spring my husband took a military trip to Iqaluit, a mostly Inuit town way up north, to do a military exercise. As I puttered at my sewing machine, I wondered about their crafters, then I wondered if they might need or want anything from our big city of abundant stuff as I knew that supplies (let alone fresh produce) were hard to come by up there. A few emails later I discovered through the mayor that the youth centre would love socks of all things as many of the kids showed up to programs with threadbare socks or none at all. This is in a community that has lots and lots of snow for most of the year! So, I got on the phone asking the 'wives' to spread the word to throw a couple of socks in with their husbands luggage (and some craft supplies would be pretty cool too) and my husband would collect it all once they got up there. One simple little idea resulted in this: http://www.flickr.com/photos/24313145@N08/2319184430/in/photostream/
I look forward to watching your idea grow.

this is an excellent idea! and one that the mama's here in our area have adopted as well for a few years. The wife of the President of our local christian college teaches any interested students how to knit little caps. Young men too! :0) have volunteered. Premie caps are knit and sent to midwives who go down to Haiti and other areas. Its amazing how many babies die just from exposure in the first 24 hours. The little caps literally save lives! God Bless the midwives, and anyone who makes and sends these little blessings a hat.

This is such a beautiful idea, a truly inspiring read to wake up to on a Monday morning.

My friend and I were discussing how perfect a project this would be for the dozens of t-shirts we've bought over the last 4 years of college - shirts for every campus event that rarely ever get worn again. Now, it seems, they will serve a much greater purpose.

I've been a volunteer with the Linus Connection (our Austin version of Project Linus) for years now and really enjoy it but I'm always in search of new opportunities to help. I've long felt there needs to be more focus on "craftisvism" (though I certainly didn't know the word!) in the crafty mama blog world. There is certainly no better person to get the ball rolling than you, Amanda. You are a force. Thank you and good luck!

Count us in!! I will use this as an intro sewing lesson for my boys (and girl)! I love that it is recycling and quick and easy (since I'm not much of a knitter but am a sewer); I love that they will be so very well used. I anticipate a flood of mail to your house the coming weeks, amanda... hope you are ready! Thanks for the opportunity to make a difference.

Thank you for organizing this project. The Haitian people are often in my thoughts as I have a cousin who adopted a beautiful Haitian boy. I am excited to participate in your project by making some hats. Acts of kindness, hats made of love, thoughts of others who have less, being thankful for the bounty in our own lives, it is amazing to see the power of simple acts of love and I look forward to seeing your project develop.
Thanks Again,
Mandy

Haiti sustained damage from several hurricanes this past hurricane season. One whole town was encased in mud and many other areas were completely wiped out. This project has special resonance with me, since I live in the New Orleans area. Thanks for the opportunity to help women and children in Haiti.

I'm in. I will send the link to my daughter who is a college freshman and is really into DIY t-shirt re-purposing. I really believe that so many people want to help others, they just don't know where to start. Thanks for the opportunity.

My goodness...this morning my thought was "what can I give today?" And just a bit later I found your new blog...I found a maternity shirt of mine in the back of the closet from years ago...what better way to repurpose a maternity shirt than for a newborn?! I just made my first one and it only took about 10 minutes. Thanks for the inspiration and the simplicity.

I linked to you today in my blog and also sent out your new blog link to my Holistic Moms Network group and encouraged them to send it to any birth loops they are on!

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About Mama to Mama

I expect to pass through this world but once. Any good thing, therefore, that I can do or any kindness I can show to any fellow creature, let me do it now. Let me not defer or neglect it for I shall not pass this way again."
-Stephen Grellet

As crafters, the reasons we create are many. Just one may be to spread a little bit of peace into the world, to make a small but meaningful difference in one person's life through a simple act of crafting with intention. Mama to Mama seeks to find ways to connect handcrafters with mothers, children and families in need of a little bit of handmade love.